Ji:il'" 



56 



ALTRICIAI. GIJALLATOUES — HKUODIONES. 



Had, The whole of teiniiciate niul tioiiical Ameiien, I'mni British America to Cliili and the 

 Frtlkhiiid Ishlliils. I'lirt of tiie West Iiiilics; Ijeriiiudiis. 



Si'. Char. Adult : Fileiiin, scaindars, and inters ai.uhirH, t,'lo.ssy Uackish bottle-green ; fore- 

 head, postoeiilar, malar, and ^'idar v.-i.ms, and medial lower parts, white ; lateral lower parts and 

 neck, except in front, pale ash-^'ray, witii a sli;,rlit lilaceous tin-e ; wind's, rumi., ui.per lail-coverts 

 and tail, deeper ash-.i,'ray. Occipital plumes jiure white, liill black ; lorea and orbits yellowish 

 yreen ; iris bright red'; legs and feet yellow ; claws brown. [Audubon.] Yoiiwj, second year : 



jek. ■-■!»:.■— 



WS 'tN ■■«-■ ■'-CC 



.\o. of 



14 



8 



Similar to the adult, but scapulars and interscainilai-s cinereous, like the wings, and the white of 

 the forehead obscured by tlie blackish of the crown ; tlie colors generally more sond)re, with neck 

 and lower jiarta more decidedly ashy. Yoitiifijjirnt ijvar : Above, grayis^h brown, with more or less 

 of a cinnamon cast, especially on the remigcs, each feather marked with a medial tear-shaped, or 

 wed"e-shaped stripe of wliite, the remiges with small white terminal spots ; vectrices plain ash- 

 gray. Sides of the head and iieck, i>nd I'Utire lower jiarts, striped longitudinally with grayish 

 brown and dull white ; chin \\k\ liiroat ]ilain white medially. ]!ill light apide-green, the tipper 

 half of the maxilla blai'kish, the mamlible with a tinge of the same near the end ; lores light 

 apple-green; eyelids siiuilar, but brighter — more yellowish, their inner edge black; iris dark 

 chrome-yellow tjr dull oiange ; legs and feet light yellowish apple-green ; claws grayish horn- 

 color.^ 



Length about 24.0(>-26.(K) ; oxpaiisp, -ll.lKt. Weight, 1 lb. 14 oz. (Aii)i Hon). Wing, 11. (M)- 

 12-80; tail, 4.2(>-.5.:j() ; culmen, 2.8(»-:}.l(»; depth of bill, .70-.85 ; tarsus, 3. U>-3.4(); middle 

 toe, 2.0.5-3.10 ; bare portion of tibia, .!)0-l .40.2 



The series of specimens at hand is unfortunately too small to justify an oiv.nion ns to whether 

 the American Night Herons are really separable as a geographical race from those of the Old 

 World, or whether there are two races in America. Authors recognize a N. ohscurus from the 

 southern part of South America, but ten sjieciniens from that region compaied with thirteen from 

 Northern America certainly do not indicate any constant dilference, notwithstanding a certain 

 proportion (in this case four of the eight specimens before us, or one half) are more or less darker, 

 though only a small proportion of them are very much darker ; while of the other four, two are as 

 light-colored as the very palest of northern ones, the others being about like the average. There 

 being no other differences beyond the slightly larger avmifii- size of the .xoutliern birds (especially 

 noticeable in those from the high districts of Peru and Chili), we are hardly inclined, for the 

 present, at least, to recognize a var. olM-iirnn, but, on the other hand, to look ujion the latter as the 

 e.\pre9sion of a tendency to partial mtdanism all'ecting this species in certain localities of the regions 

 indicated, this tendency, moreover, perhajis affecting only some individuals in such localities. 



laps 



» From a .spocimcn killed .\ngiist 13, 1870, near Wnsliington, D. C. 

 * Extremes of thirteen examples from North and Middle America. 



